


comes and goes in waves

by pierpressure



Series: ZKDrabbleDecember2020 [11]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Big Brother Sokka (Avatar), F/M, Fluff and Humor, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Iroh (Avatar) loves Tea, Lifeguard!Zuko, Lu Ten (Avatar) Lives, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, also surfer!zuko, surfer!katara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28170468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pierpressure/pseuds/pierpressure
Summary: Katara's a hot surfer and Zuko's a lifeguard who takes notice. That's literally it. It's just him trying to woo her.Day 19: Crashing Waves
Relationships: Background Suki/Sokka - Relationship, Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Lu Ten & Zuko, past yue/katara
Series: ZKDrabbleDecember2020 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037616
Comments: 50
Kudos: 121
Collections: ZK Drabble December 2020





	1. intertidal introductions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from dean lewis's waves.

"It's called Sex Wax, just so you know," chimed the girl with sparkling blue eyes that rivaled the ocean behind her.

Zuko's eyes widened with a dumbfounded shock and confusion, similar to a deer in the headlights with a speeding Mercedes Benz driven by a middle-aged, rich woman recovering from Lasik eye surgery approaching at ramming speed. "Uh," he sputtered before the girl flipped her long, dark curls over her shoulders as she tilted her face upwards to laugh.

"That's the brand of the wax I'm using for my board. That's what you were staring at, right?" she smiled, eyes shifting adorably. She sounded like she didn't quite believe that, but was amused enough to partake in some good-natured teasing anyway.

Zuko blushed furiously. The surfboard wax was _not_ what he'd been staring at, but he wasn't going to admit that to her. He was just lucky that the girl had put his awkward mooning down to an interest in surfing instead of being completely enamored by her unearthly beauty. Zuko was pretty sure that would scare her away.

"Oh, uh, yeah. T-thanks," he managed to stutter, which only made her smile more.

The girl rose to stand and stepped over her board decorated in swirling shades of blue resembling waves, holding a hand out to shake. "I'm Katara. How 'bout you?"

She met him dead in the eyes, unphased by his burn scar. Katara didn't even flinch, for which he was infinitely grateful. It was rare that someone meeting him for the first time's face didn't betray their surprise or curiosity, but this girl didn't deem ordinary in the slightest.

Zuko awkwardly shook her hand, unsure how much pressure to use until he felt how firm her grip was. He very intentionally did not let his eyes drift down to her periwinkle bikini top and matching board shorts, contrasting starkly with her deep skin. Or the toned expanses and gentle curves of her waist that remained uncovered. (Alright, he might've caught a glimpse or two.)

Zuko felt the back of his neck warm in embarrassment, lessened slightly by catching her eyes drift down to his shirtless form instead of his face. Twirling the fabric of his swim trunks in his hand, he nervously responded, "Uh, Zuko. My name's Zuko."

"Well, Zuko. You surf?" Katara's voice was light and playful, similar to a crashing wave on the beach engulfing your toes after too long in the hot, Hawaiian sun. Zuko would willingly drown in it.

"Uh, no. I lifeguard here on the weekends to keep the stupid tourists from dying." 

Katara threw her head back and giggled, reinforcing a sense of pride bubbling in Zuko's chest. Something as simple as making her laugh shouldn't have made him feel practically light-headed, but it did. And maybe shitting on the tourists was a low-blow, but it never ceased to amuse the local girls, as his cousin loved to lecture him about.

She made him hyperaware of everything around him, from the slope of her shoulders glistening with sunscreen that he could smell from where he stood to the grains of sand grating against the soles of his feet as they shuffled. There was something about Katara that was seemingly magnetic, electric; she seemed to charge the air between them with every unabashed show of her smile.

"Well, I think you'd be good at it. I could even teach you, if you'd like," Katara offered, pulling her hair up into a messy ponytail and sweeping some stray strands behind her ears.

This was where it got questionable. Zuko had never said he didn't know how to surf, only that he didn't. In truth, he did know how to surf and was pretty good at it, thanks to years of practice with his uncle and cousin. They used to spend entire weekends camped out like beach bums catching waves after Zuko had gone to live with them as a teenager. He just didn't surf _anymore_. 

Zuko did, after all, descend from what could be considered 'surfing royalty'. His Uncle Iroh had been 'hot shit' on the surfing scene during the '70s and '80s and was still known for hanging around beaches when he wasn't manning his tea shop. Not to mention his cousin, who was literally a professional surfer that showed up shirtless in sports magazines. Zuko found it slightly offensive to have to watch middle-aged women drool over the famous Lu Ten Sozin in the check-out line at grocery stores, but what could he do? 

The two of them were always on his case about him getting back into it, to no avail. However, they didn't have the same charm as the pretty girl in front of him whom Zuko desperately wanted to see again. Even if it meant fudging his surfing abilities, just a little. 

He couldn't muster the courage to outright ask her out, so this course of action would have to suffice. The possibilities between the two of them were endless and Zuko wanted to give them a chance without any inhibition from his past.

"Really? You'd do that?" Zuko tried to hide the excitement in his voice, but his lips betrayed the rest of him, quirking up against his will.

"Yeah, why not? It's always fun to have more surfing buddies. Here," she started, grabbing a Sharpie out of a duffle bag next to her board, "this is my number. Call me so we can set something up and figure out where to get you a board."

Zuko bit his lip, staring in earnest at the numbers scrawled onto his arm in loopy script. "No need to rent a board or anything. I know someone who'll let me borrow."

Katara raised her eyebrows but gave a coy smile. "Alright then, Zuko. I'll see you around. Don't wanna keep you from saving all those tourists."

"Uh, yeah. See you around," he replied.

Zuko watched her nonchalantly throw the bar of wax back into her bag and pick up her board. Katara waded into the crashing waves to join a group of surfers around their age, where she began to splash a boy that looked uncannily similar to her. Before turning around to climb up the lifeguard tower, Zuko could swear he saw her wink at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why did zuko stop surfing? is katara going to find out he's withholding information to get a date with a pretty girl? tune in next week to find out (just kidding, it'll probably be a lot longer because i need drabble december to wrap up before i work on my numerous wip's)
> 
> seriously, my one-shots cannot remain one-shots. but it's worth it to write alive!lu ten and his and zuko's relationship.
> 
> just a disclaimer: my experience surfing is related to the one time i took a lesson, wiped out, and never returned. everything here is based off of research or just wrong lol. (for pete's sake, my knowledge of surfboard wax came from a charlie's angels movie)


	2. candid confidantes

Katara bounded into the surf with an artful flip of her hair, a slight smile gracing her face despite her best efforts to keep her cool around her friends, who had definitely watched the entire encounter with Zuko. They had also likely been taking detailed notes about the cinematography and wishing for popcorn (as well as subtitles).

The still-rising sun on the horizon that grew brighter with each minute that passed could not rival the excitement on Sokka’s face as he prepared to taunt her. 

“Katara, my amazingly wonderful baby sister. How did that sunblock run go?” Sokka probed with a smirk.

“Pretty well, actually. You could stand to put on a little more so you don’t shrivel up like a prune when you’re old, but I’m good,” Katara smiled back.

“Relax, my melanin will protect me,” Sokka assured, gesturing at his tanned bicep covered in the patterned lines of his tribal tattoo. “But the real question is: who’s the new _loverboy_ that’s got you all flustered?” Sokka drawled, fanning his face with an open palm and fluttering his eyelashes before pretending to faint.

“That was an awful impression. It looked nothing like me, Sokka,” Katara protested, sloshing through the ocean to give her brother a quick shove that sent tumbling butt-first him into the shallow waters.

“Oh, come on. You usually send dudes packing the second they try anything when you’re in surfing mode. But you gave him your number! Written, in Sharpie, on his hand! Who even does that any more?” Sokka pointed out, grabbing a piece of seaweed that had been splashed into his wolf-tail and throwing it back at Katara, where it hit her stomach.

“Hey!”

“You know, Beach Babe, your brother’s got a point, for once,” Toph smirked from her lawn chair buried in the sand that left her just above sea level with her feet submerged. She was practically drowning in an oversized rashguard she'd borrowed from Aang and a floppy sunhat, but the scheming expression on her face was obvious even in the shadows. “From the narration of events I got over here, you seem really into this guy. Is he cute?”

Katara rolled her eyes but then facepalmed as everyone looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to confirm her opinion of Zuko. At her refusal to respond, Sokka threw his hands up, waving and pointing in the direction of the sandy beach.

“Sokka, what are you doing?” Katara demanded, pushing her hair loopies out of her eyes to better visualize the ridiculousness in front of her.

“Trying to get his attention. Maybe he'll even come over here,” her brother replied, not ceasing his unintentional impression of a dying seagull freefalling.

“Knock it off! He’s gonna see and think we’re talking about him!” Katara hissed, starting to get up and deal with the problem directly before Sokka finally stopped (mostly due to Suki flicking him on the back of the head). 

“But we are. C’mon, Katara. Just tell us. Please?” Toph batted her eyelashes innocently and Katara frowned at the knowledge that she was going to give in to the circular gathering of dingdongs around her.

“Yes, he’s cute. Very hot, even. You happy now, you little sand flea?” 

Toph grinned like she’d just gotten away with a high-stakes bank robbery. “Oh, ho, ho, Katara’s icy heart has finally been melted by some rando at the beach! You guys owe me money!”

Aang groaned from where he was perched on his grey cloud-patterned board, held in place by Suki’s arms as she crouched in the water. “Man, Toph’s robbing all of us blind!”

At the roar of laughter erupting, Aang blushed and amended, “Wait, I didn’t mean to- That was an accident! Guys, stop laughing at the pun.

“I would say I can’t believe you guys are betting on my love life, but I’m honestly not surprised,” Katara groaned as Aang fell off his board amid his blubbering, the pockets of his bright orange shorts bobbing up to the surface with trapped air. While the rest of the group usually gave Aang shit for those neon monstrosities, he claimed it was a habit of scuba-diving. Why he needed to become the dive sausage, Katara wasn't sure.

“To be fair, we’re all pretty invested. It’s been so long since Yue moved away and you were all heartbroken, so we’re really happy you’re moving on, Kat,” Suki explained with a genuine smile and an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

“I’m still broken up about that; don’t remind me. She was the coolest sister-in-law ever and you guys were such a power couple. Ahhh, I’m getting emotional,” Sokka started to lament before Toph grabbed his head and dunked it in the water. Sputtering, he quickly resurfaced, picking at his navy blue, knee-length swim trunks that now contained a metric ton of sand.

“One: she wasn’t your sister-in-law because no one got married. And two: you’re not even the one who dated her; shut up, Sokka,” Toph chided.

“My _stupid brother’s_ comments aside, thanks, guys. I know that break-up was rough, but I’m happy that I had you dorks by my side. And I guess it wouldn’t hurt to dish a little, as long as you don’t get your hopes up too high.”

“Yeah, keeping our incredibly high expectations in check, blah blah blah, whatever. Dish, please,” Suki begged, climbing onto the board Sokka was preventing from floating away with only his calf muscles.

“Okay, fine. So his name’s Zuko and he’s a lifeguard here. Nice local boy, even made a tourist joke. We really hit it off, so I gave him my number. That’s it,” Katara shared as everyone’s anticipating gazes trained on her.

“And?” Aang probed with a hopeful lilt in his voice.

“And since he’s not a surfer, I may have offered to show him the basics,” Katara dropped her gaze to the tides rolling around her, smiling slightly.

“A date? _You_ asked _him_ on a date? That’s so awesome!” Sokka exclaimed with an incredibly smug expression that earned him another splash of water in the face.

“Kind of. We’re gonna hang out and who knows what’ll happen?” Katara shrugged, pulling the loose drawstrings of her shorts taut and tying them off with a double knot. 

“Wow. To get Katara interested, this guy must be smoking. More descriptions, please,” Toph requested in a saccharine tone with a scheming look on her face that made Katara wary to share with the class.

“Well, uh, he’s, uh, some part Japanese, I think? He had a keychain with the flag, so I’m just guessing there. But pale with dark, short hair, a little more than a head taller than me, and, uh, he has a burn scar over his left eye,” Katara supplied.

“She’s leaving out the washboard abs, Toph. They were so defined we could see them from all the way over here,” Suki added with a smirk.

“Uh, yeah, he was _pretty_ shirtless,” Katara confirmed with a dusty blush hanging over her cheekbones.

“Well, I’m excited to see where this goes. Can you live-tweet the surfing lesson-slash-date when it happens? We can have a movie night but just for finding out what happens!” Aang suggested, pumping a fist in the air.

“If it happens. I gave him my number, but there’s no way to know if he’ll respond. So you guys all need to chill and be patient.”

“Katara, he practically tripped over his own two feet walking away from you. He’s _gonna_ call,” Sokka insisted.

“Yeah, it’ll be a love story for the ages! There will be sonnets and plays written about the two of you star-crossed lovers! Picture it: Girls meets boy. Girl teaches boy how to surf. Girl and boy fall hopelessly in love!” Aang gushed excitedly.

“For all we know, they’ll write about it as a tragedy,” Katara objected with a not-so-subtle eye roll.

“I didn’t retake ninth grade English literature for you to have a tragic love story, Katara,” Sokka pouted.

“No, you had to retake it because you spent all of your time on that hare-brained science project instead of reading all of the required materials,” Katara shot back.

“Hey, that project won the island-wide fair. Don’t knock the unconventional methodology of a _scientist_!” Sokka cautioned his sister as she tightened her ponytail and rose from the water to secure her board’s leash onto her ankle.

“Alright, alright, Mr. Mad Scientist. Now, are we gonna surf or just sit around in the water like we’re peeing all day to gossip?” Katara taunted as she climbed atop her board and started to paddle out further using her arms.

Behind her, Aang followed on his board while Sokka and Suki played a quick round of rock-paper-scissors to determine who would use their shared board first while the other built sandcastles with Toph. As Suki emerged victoriously, she planted a kiss on Sokka’s cheek and pushed off to join the others in deeper water.

Katara turned back to face Sokka's form plopped in the sand next to a cackling Toph and caught sight of Zuko. He was staring directly at her from afar, quickly diverting his attention elsewhere as their eyes met. Not that Katara would ever admit it, but maybe Aang’s overly romanticized vision of a love story could bear rings of truth, like a retold myth passed down through generations until it bore only a semblance to reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ta-da! i (finally) updated this!
> 
> but i live on a tropical island and we totally do the lawn chair in the ocean thing. the adults will just sit in the water all huddled up together drinking beer while the kids try to drown each other. it seemed toph appropriate.
> 
> not to mention the image of katara in boardshorts with a high ponytail and the hair loopies screamed bisexual to me, so here’s bi!katara. she and yue are honestly a power couple because moon and ocean parallels.


	3. endeared extortion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some stuff: zuko and his family are japanese-american here and use certain phrases. i am not an expert (most of my knowledge was learned from my ex-boyfriend's mom), but here are the very basic explanations for those who are interested.
> 
> ganbatte (roughly) translates to "do you best!" or "you can do it"
> 
> for addressing most adults in japanese, you add -san to the end of their name (as an honorific). -chan is used as an very cute/endearing term and kind of carries a connotation of being for young children, usually girls.

The familiar clang of the brass bell atop the Jasmine Dragon Teahouse’s door rang out in Zuko’s ears as he entered his uncle’s tea shop, accompanied by the fragrant scent of herbs used in the tea blends.

The nostalgic sense of home that passed over Zuko was further completed by Uncle Iroh poking his head through the service window to the kitchens and grinning at him across the calming pastels of the room.

As Zuko shuffled through the patrons of the shop and towards the tea-making facilities in the back, he couldn’t help but shake his head. Only his uncle would be whacky enough to open an actual teahouse on O'ahu in the new millennium and somehow have it be successful. This unprecedented boom in business (that Iroh claimed to have always been sure would occur) could mostly be attributed to hipsters and an elderly Asian population, but both demographics seemed pleased. 

Some of the grandmothers who frequented the shop regularly smiled at Zuko as he made his way through them, so he responded with a little wave to their table. They had taken quite a liking to Zuko when he had worked in the shop for spare cash as a teenager and were still always trying to set him up with one of their granddaughters.

Bypassing the cash register and little golden cat statue with the swinging paw that had decorated the teahouse since Zuko and Lu Ten had found it in a garage sale prior to the grand opening, he swung the divider open and greeted, “Hi, Uncle.”

“Zuko, it’s been so long! How wonderful to see you!” Iroh’s eyes crinkled slightly as he broke into a large grin, abandoning the mortar and pestle he was holding to wrap Zuko in a tight embrace, squeezing his arms tightly around him. Not knowing what to do with his free arm, Zuko managed an awkward pat on his back as his uncle continued the embrace.

“Uh, I was just at your house last week for dinner, Uncle,” Zuko pointed out, breathing deeply as Iroh finally terminated his bone-crushing show of affection.

“That doesn’t count. You didn’t even take any leftovers home,” Iroh shook his head disapprovingly, gesturing for Zuko to follow him as he returned to working at the marble countertop. 

Recognizing the blend his uncle was creating, Zuko started to unscrew the lids of the jars containing the necessary leaves, setting them out on the table. “There wasn’t enough room in my fridge for all of that! You literally made enough roasted duck to feed a small army _on top_ of Lu Ten.”

Iroh merely gave a jovial chuckle as Zuko waved his arms in his attempts to convince him, insisting, “Still, it was rude. If I didn’t love you so much, I would’ve been incredibly offended.”

“I give up, Uncle. You win. From now on, I’ll bring a small wagon every time I go to your house to haul the food home with me. Would that make you happy?” Zuko rubbed his temples, unable to hide the grin creeping upon his face, as was common whenever he was with his uncle.

“Yes, that would satisfy me. It will be nice to have some assurance that you do not starve in solitude, eh?”

Zuko shook his head in amusement. “Glad we could settle that.”

Iroh turned to face him with a twinkle in his eyes before changing the subject. “So, what brings you here on a Wednesday afternoon? Dressed in swim trunks, zories, and a shirt you undoubtedly had to find buried somewhere in your trunk?”

Zuko groaned, finally being confronted with his reason for being here and unable to stall with small-talk any further. His uncle had clearly caught on to the unusual circumstances of this visit. “What, I can’t just decide to visit my favorite uncle after my shift lifeguarding?”

Iroh didn’t look up from his partially-blended mixture of tea leaves, simply replying, “No,” as his mouth curved into a circular shape.

Zuko threw his hands up in defeat. “Fine, you caught me. I need a favor.”

“That’s more like it. What can I do for you, Zuko?” Iroh quizzed, relishing in the opportunity to present a multitude of love languages on someone whose idea of affection was a stilted pat on the back.

“Well, uh, I kind of. Uh, need to get my old board out of storage from your garage?” Zuko shrugged with a nervous smile.

Iroh’s eyes widened as if he had just snorted a line of matcha off of the table, setting the mortar and pestle down on the table to turn his full attention to Zuko.

“What would this be for, my nephew?” he probed with an obvious caution clinging to his words like glaze from one of the cooling cakes on the rack one table over.

“I’m not gonna sell it, so don’t worry. I just, uh, need to use it again,” Zuko divulged, rubbing the back of his neck to ground himself.

“For _surfing_ purposes?” Iroh clarified with an awestruck expression.

“Uh, yeah?”

“You’re starting to surf again? Where’s this coming from?” Iroh blanched, his jaw dropping to lay amongst the little bits of tea leaves littering the floor.

Before Zuko could respond, the back entrance swung open with a loud creak from squeaky hinges, punctuated by a loud, “Dad, I’m here!”

The man entering the door’s shaggy, overgrown hair was even longer than Zuko’s, swaying as he turned his head. His sun-tanned skin from long hours at the beach with sunscreen forgotten at home rippled with strong muscles built up from years of athleticism and earned stamina. However, his casual, loose-fitting clothes and the presence of corded, shark-tooth jewelry wrapping around his wrists and neck were the most revealing of his profession. Zuko managed a weak smile at the joking timber of his voice that always seemed to hold some secret knowledge of an inside joke no one else was in on.

Lu Ten didn’t notice Zuko’s presence or the conversation he had interrupted as he grabbed an apron from a hook on the back of the door and threw it over his head. Although he had his own career surfing professionally, Zuko’s cousin often came to help his dad out at work during rush hours or when they were short-staffed. Turning around to stride deeper into the kitchen, a grin broke out on his face. “Hey, baby cuz. Whatcha doin’ here?”

“I’m not a baby anymore, Lu,” Zuko corrected as his cousin bounded over to practically suffocate him with a death-grip from behind, his muscular arms wrapped firmly around Zuko’s waist.

“I helped change your diapers when you ran around the house naked. You’ll always be a baby to me,” Lu Ten insisted, keeping his hold tight as Zuko began to struggle.

Zuko managed to sling his elbow around his cousin’s neck and get him in a chokehold.“I’m taller than you now!”

“But still scrawnier!” Lu Ten whooped, flexing his biceps as he hauled Zuko off of him and onto the ground in front of Iroh’s flip flop-clad feet. 

Extending an arm to help Zuko back to his feet after being satisfied with his dominance in the art of petty wrestling, Lu Ten suddenly seemed to notice his father’s cautiously somber expression and his disposition rapidly sobered. “So, uh, you didn’t answer why you’re here, Zuko.”

“He’s surfing again and needs his board back,” Iroh supplied in a tone as soft as the weathered upholstered chairs in the nearby dining room of the teahouse.

“What?!?!?! You? As in, my cousin Zuko Sozin? Surfing again? Are you serious?” Lu Ten exclaimed, wearing a slightly more ecstatic version of the shock displayed by his father on his own face. His cousin had been very vocal about missing Zuko as a surfing buddy in the years since he had quit, so this was basically a free invitation to a barbeque where he didn’t have to man the grill for Lu Ten.

“Uh, yeah,” Zuko admitted with a sheepish smile.

Lu Ten pumped a congratulatory fist in the air. “Well, that’s great! What brought this about?” 

“Well, uh, you see, I kind of, um…. Kind of...”

“ _Ganbatte_ , _Zuko-chan_. Spit it out!” Lu Ten encouraged as he clapped him on the back with an open palm.

“Can you stop calling me that?” Zuko sighed.

Lu Ten cocked an eyebrow up. “Never. But stop stalling and let me in on what’s going on!”

Iroh’s brow creased and he piped up, “Yes, please elaborate on these circumstances, nephew.”

Zuko dropped his eye line to a particularly interesting crumb of lint on his shoe. “Well, uh, I met a girl-”

“Agni forsaken! Eight years of pestering you to start surfing again does nothing, but a girl is what finally does it? Do I mean nothing to you?” Lu Ten spluttered, attempting to flick Zuko on the forehead as he ducked.

“You’d think as a pro surfer, you’d already have enough practice without pestering me-” Zuko mumbled as Iroh’s eyes lit up.

“A girl? Tell us more,” his uncle implored with a raised eyebrow and the beginnings of a smile on his face as if finally accepting the proceedings taking place.

‘Well, uh, her name’s Katara. She’s a drop-dead gorgeous surfer I met while lifeguarding today. And uh, she offered to teach me how to surf, so I’m taking her up on it,” Zuko mumbled.

Lu Ten burst out laughing, extending an arm to clutch onto the countertop to steady himself while doubled over and shaking. “You-you’re _learning..._ how to surf... from _her_?”

Iroh’s eyebrows were raised as well, so Zuko tried to defend himself. “I just need an excuse to see her again. She gave me her number, see?”

Lu Ten inspected the faded ink on Zuko’s hand before asking, “Did she not recognize you? And are you really planning on playing dumb the entire time you know her?”

“Well, uh, it’s been a while, so, no, she didn’t recognize me. Most people don’t, anymore. And I wasn’t really thinking at the time, but I guess I just have to deal with it now,” Zuko huffed.

“I would advise caution in this precarious situation, Zuko. It is never wise to build a relationship on a foundation of lies,” Iroh warned.

“You make it sound like he’s gonna marry the girl, Dad. Relax. I’m happy baby Zuko’s getting out with the ladies,” Lu Ten beamed, reaching over to trap Zuko again and muss his hair.

“Hey!” Zuko protested, with no effect on the frizzy mess his still-damp hair soon became, despite his efforts to smooth it down.

“I’ll leave the garage door open and help you load your old board up tonight if you want. I’ve been keepin' her in good condition, so you shouldn’t have any problems on your _date_ ,” Zuko’s cousin taunted, his voice teeming with a penchant for mischief. Still, there was a bright excitement that shone through his dark lashes and wormed its way through Zuko in a way that made him shift uncomfortably.

“And you can stay for dinner and take leftovers with you, of course,” Iroh added.

“Thanks,” Zuko chuckled as he gave in to Lu Ten’s motions for a group hug and became sandwiched between his uncle and cousin.

“But on one condition: you go surfing with me, again. Same way we used to, every Sunday morning,” Lu Ten proposed, finally letting Zuko out of the midst of the huggers.

Zuko thought in silence with narrowed eyes for a moment before agreeing, “You’re on.” 


	4. parking lot practices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if u saw me take a month+ long hiatus, no u didn't

Katara arrived in the crowded parking lot of the beach twenty minutes early, her fingers trembling slightly with excitement as she shifted her car’s gear into park. 

She figured he’d have a few minutes to sit in his car and enjoy the sprawling blend of colors in the sky painted by the rising sun while she waited for Zuko. She was rapidly proven wrong as a cherry red jeep recklessly pulled in from the main road, lurching to a stop after almost hitting a truck backing into a spot. She could make out his squinting features as he straightened his awful parking job and confirm it was him. 

Smiling, she sprung forth from her compact baby blue car that could only be described as retro and walked up to his driver’s seat. Scrambling to put his car in park, his cheeks flushed as he caught a glimpse of Katara approaching.

He fumbled on his phone for a second before rolling the window down. Still faintly amused, Katara greeted him with a grin. “Hi. You’re early.”

“So are you,” Zuko responded, pulling his keys out of his ignition and meeting her gaze.

“Yeah, well, at least I didn’t practically hit every car in the lot on my way here,” Katara teased gently as his nose scrunched up.

“Hey, that’s not fair! That car came out of nowhere!” he protested.

“Alright, alright, if you say so,” Katara relented, throwing her hands up in a mock surrender.

“I’ll have you know that my driving skills are fantastic. That was a fluke,” he grumbled, his expression hinting that he didn’t quite even believe that statement.

Katara scanned him for a moment before she broke out in a huge grin. She lost her train of thought and any possible responses as her eyes widened like the matching saucers to the oversized mugs that enabled her over-caffeination habit. “What...are those?”

Zuko glanced at the overcrowded parking lot surrounding them before Katara gestured to his swim trunks, giggling profusely.“What’s wrong with my shorts? What’s so funny?” he wondered.

Katara began to stomp her flip flip-clad feet onto the concrete pavement as she crouched down and slapped her thighs in a fit of laughter. Rolling up the window that she had just been peering through, Zuko exited his cherry-red jeep and slammed the door shut with a frown.

In between her giggles, Katara wheezed out, "Oh, those are the best things I’ve ever seen. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with them. You should wear blue-ringed octopus booty shorts every single day.”

“They're not booty shorts! And, for your information, I think they’re artistic and stylish,” Zuko huffed as Katara reached out to grab his arm, eliciting a blush.

“Oh, no, those are the brightest neon yellows and blues I’ve seen in my entire life.”

Zuko groaned. “Glad I could set some sort of record.”

“I’ve never experienced anything so offensive to my eyes. That being said, do you have another pair I can borrow?” Katara asked, tracing her finger over one of the octopus tentacles in the pattern.

Zuko gave her a grin and he tugged his shirt off, haphazardly throwing it into his front seat. “Uh, yeah, actually. I have a pair with a bunch of hypnotic cuttlefish patterns and another with flaming flamingos on it at home.”

Katara’s jaw dropped. Partially due to the revelation that he had more of those hideous things as well as the fact that you could wash clothing by hand if you lathered laundry detergent on his torso. “You’re serious? Where the hell do you get these?”

“They’re hand-me-downs from my cousin. It was laundry day, okay? Cut me some slack.”

“Well, you’re going to need this cousin to order some in bulk for me,” Katara suggested with a lighthearted laugh.

“I don’t know if they carry your size,” Zuko gestured to her own bikini-clad figure, “but that’s nothing some duct tape can’t fix.”

“You’re hilarious, you know that? But the real question is: where were these the other day when we met?”

Zuko ran a hand through his hair, gathering it up into a man-bun at the crown of his head and tying it with a rubber band. Katara tried not to let on that artful man-buns were her greatest weakness. “Well, I have to wear the uniform trunks when I’m on duty. Off-duty, however, is a different story.”

“Well, I like off-duty Zuko way better. He’s a hoot.”

“I’m glad you think so highly of me,” he smiled back at her as he locked his car door and settled his lanyard of keys around his neck.

“So, how much do you know about surfing? On a scale of ‘I’ve never even heard of it to I am surfing itself'?” Katara probed with a kind smile.

“Uhhhh… Closer to the nothing end of the spectrum,” Zuko said with unevenness shaking through his voice. She found it adorable that he was so nervous.

“‘Like, never even watched the surfing montages on Hawaii Five-O, nothing?”

“I mean, I’ve watched people a lot. I kind of know what’s going on, I’ve just never done it myself,” Zuko answered with a slight wince. Katara attempted to reassure him that there was no reason to be embarrassed by his beginner status. That was why they were here, after all. 

“Well, that’s fine. We can just start with the basics, then,” Katara reassured him with a small nod that sent her loose hair fluttering around her face. She quickly pulled it up into a messy high bun that bore a resemblance to his and glanced away.

Dislodging the bungee cords holding his board in place on the roof of his car, Zuko grunted softly as he bore its weight and set it down gently on the ground beside him. Turning to face Katara, he cocked his head at her widened eyes.

“Zuko, where in the world did you get that board?” she wondered, her mouth still agape with the surprise of a pufferfish being tossed around by an ill-intended dolphin. The board in his arms was almost shorter than him and of comparable thickness to paper. There was no way he could get on that sporting his amount of skill without seriously injuring himself 

Zuko sputtered, “Uh, my… cousin?”

“The same cousin who lent you those awful shorts gave you this expensive-ass board? You’d have to eat instant ramen for months to afford this thing,” she questioned in disbelief. Even a ramen-based diet for months wouldn't be able to afford this surfboard on Katara's income.

Zuko gave a nervous shrug and smile that Katara observed carefully. “Uh, he’s well-off?”

No well-intentioned person would lend a beginner a board like that without any warning. They’d go flying headfirst into a sandbar and probably get seriously injured trying to balance on that thing. It had to be a joke or something. 

“It’s also really short. You’re at least 6 feet tall and so is that board; if he’s anywhere around your height, he’d have to practically be a pro to use that,” Katara explained. 

“Oh, well, he’s shorter than me,” Zuko responded weakly, making Katara feel slightly guilty. She didn’t want to offend him, but the situation was just so ridiculous. "Is the height going to be a problem?"

Katara continued to scan the flame patterns flickering across the maroon and tan surface of the board. There was something she vaguely recognized about the pattern, but she couldn’t quite place it. Dismissing the strange flicker of familiarity, Katara broke the awkwardly suffocating atmosphere that had been cultivated by her silence. “Yeah, but that board is also thin. Like, really, thin.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine; I’m a really fast learner?” Zuko replied, his voice rising so high with nerves at the end that it sounded like a question instead of a statement. He really was completely ignorant about the logistics of surfboards. It was actually kind of cute, although Sokka and Toph would probably make fun of him for it. But Katara would defend him just for the anxious way he furrowed his brow and bit his bottom lip that made her heart flutter. (Not that she would admit this.)

"Your cousin really lent this to you without explaining anything?" Katara probed, a puzzled look gracing her pouting features. 

"He is kind of a prankster, I guess," Zuko offered as an explanation. Katara could relate, especially after having to deal with her friends finding out about Zuko and his washboard abs. 

“My board isn’t an option for you; I’m too short for it to make much of a difference,” she frowned, gesturing towards the large gap in their heights, “but I could probably convince my brother to lend you his. We won't need it today if we just work on footwork, but I could probably get him to fork it over before next time.”

“Katara, it’s fine. You don’t have to-”

“No, Zuko. You’ll wipe out in about three seconds and eat coral on that thing. Plus, Sokka works on weekdays so he can’t even use it when we practice.” 

“Are you sure? I don’t wanna impose on you or anything,” Zuko insisted, seeming not entirely convinced until she shot him a warm smile.

“Yeah, don’t sweat it. It’s no problem at all.” That was a lie. Convincing Sokka to let Zuko borrow his board would secure endless teasing from their entire group, but she figured it was worth it to see him again.

The left corner of his mouth quirked as he asked, “So, we’’ll be practicing again? Is this going to be a routine thing? Not just for today?”

Katara laughed softly, throwing her head back. As she turned to face him, she posed her own question. “Well, that depends. Do you want to? Keep doing this?”

“I would, uh, love to,” Zuko replied, a scarlet flush rising into his face as if the sun overhead had left its mark.

Katara stepped closer to him, to the point he had to look almost straight down to meet her eyes. “Alright, then. Sounds like a plan. You’ll practically be a pro surfer in no time.”

He grinned unabashedly, the skin of his scarred left eye distorting slightly under the weight of the expression. She took it in along with the rest of him, returning the smile with her own as the possibility of a future started to appear before them that she could only vaguely make out. His smile illuminated his face with a radiance she hadn’t seen until now and she was practically sure that it outshone the rays of the sun.

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to yell at me [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/meekothetrashpanda)


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